Search This Blog

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Crowds at inaugurations, background to a controversial picture

Photographer Lucas Jackson and the making of an Inauguration Day photo

A view of the crowd on the National Mall at the inauguration of
President Donald Trump, shot from the top of the Washington Monument
shortly before noon on January 20, 2017.

The picture that lit up social media and unsettled the White House
began with a trek up 50 flights of stairs, nearly to the top of the
Washington Monument, for a bird's eye view of Donald Trump's
inauguration on Friday as the 45th US president.

Reuters had
asked the US National Park Service in an email on January 13 whether a
photographer could be posted on the observation level near the top of
the monument, the highest vantage point overlooking the National Mall.
The next business day, the park service agreed to grant Reuters access,
on condition the news agency would make the picture available to other
media that requested it.

Because the elevator is under renovation,
photographer Lucas Jackson had to climb 897 steps to reach the
152-metre elevation, carrying a backpack and shoulder bag full of photo
gear, plus a step ladder.
"It was definitely a strenuous climb," Jackson said.

A
CBS News camera operator and a Park Service photographer were the only
others taking images from the observation level. Reuters published
side-by-side pictures of two moments in history.
One image was Trump's inauguration, taken by Jackson just as Trump took the oath of office, Jackson said.

The
other picture was taken by Reuters photographer Stelios Varias from the
same spot during former President Barack Obama's first inauguration,
between 12.07pm and 12:26 pm, during Obama's inaugural address.

Reuters
published a combination of the two pictures at 2.02pm. (local). The
caption read: "A combination of photos taken at the National Mall shows
the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S.
President Donald Trump at 12:01 p.m. (L) on January 20, 2017 and
President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009, in Washington, DC."

The caption did not state which crowd was larger.

The side-by-side images soon went viral on social media sites such as
Twitter, where people added commentary about the relative size of the
crowds. The controversy dominated Trump's first weekend in office.

From
Trump's vantage point, the new president saw a sea of people that he
estimated at 1 million to 1.5 million strong, according to his remarks
on Saturday at CIA headquarters. Trump chided the "dishonest media" for
showing pictures of empty spaces on the mall.

Later that day, White House spokesman Sean Spicer accused some of the media of engaging in "deliberately false reporting."

"This was the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe," Spicer said.

Spicer
elaborated on Monday, saying he stood by the remark given the "tens of
millions of people that watched it online" with devices that were
unavailable in the past.

A combination of photos taken at the National Mall shows the crowds
attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald
Trump at 12:01pm (left) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama
on January 20, 2009